Odd Man Out
by that-treason
Summary: Where was Matt during "O Come All Ye Faithful"? A sortof character study looking at one day in Matt's life.


This is life now for Matt Donovan - this is the way things are.

#####

It's weird waking up in the Gilbert house every day. He's been in and out of it all his life (slept here on more than one occasion). Memories are thick on the walls. But living here, even temporarily, is a different thing altogether, a stark contrast to his former situation.

The air in the house is always comfortable, and never seems musty or cold. Fridge and kitchen cabinets are stocked with food - not just exact amounts carefully planned to get through the week, but all kinds of stuff, just laid out for browsing and taking. Hot water on command - never just lukewarm or cold. And Jeremy seems to be made of noise whenever he's around, singing off-key in the shower, thumping down the stairs and rattling around in the kitchen cabinets. Never silent.

Matt Donovan used to live alone.

He used to wake up in a house that was cold and quiet and empty. It was as clean as he could keep it, between work and school, but that meant it was always a little dusty and a little damp, slightly overgrown and abandoned. The people in his life never came over (at least not since he'd stopped seeing Caroline) so he never had a real sense of urgency about it. Honestly even he wasn't there a lot, except to sleep, so it didn't bother him too much.

Matt moved to the Gilbert house to help keep Jeremy level, to keep him human and sane.

(And not at all because Matt needed it too, needed company and heat and hot showers - needed to feel eighteen for a little while.)

Today the Gilbert house is empty, except for him. Bonnie took Jeremy away to their lake house late last night, to find a way around his overwhelming urge to end his sister. Elena's been gone to the boardinghouse for days now. And...there's no one else here now. Morbid thoughts cross his mind as he reaches into a cabinet for a mug and confronts Alaric's abandoned bourbon bottles. Everyone who lives here dies. Most of the time over and over, but sometimes just once.

(The rules in this game are not in his favor. He's only human.)

He shakes his head to clear away the thought. Pours a dose of vervain into a mug and covers it with coffee. (He's started to acquire a taste for the stuff, and notices the lack of it when he gets a cup from the coffee shop near the Grill.) Matt stands in the kitchen, leans against a counter and sips. There's more than enough time to get over to the Grill for his shift - more than enough time and no real reason to hurry anywhere.

#####

The truck is amazing, but it fills him with a sense of dread. He accepts it as his only option - there's zero chance he could replace the one at the bottom of the creek - but no matter how much he tries to ignore his worries, he snaps back to the same whirl of thoughts every time he sees it. Matt suspects that it represents a debt that will cost him more than the truck is worth in simple dollars. As long as Rebekah is hidden away in a coffin somewhere he's free, but he can't help but think he's on borrowed time.

For now it's an excellent ride, absolutely "top of the line" - and probably the finest thing he owns.

He turns a corner and follows the road around a curve that'll take him into the heart of town. There's a figure on the side, walking in the grass, with a garment bag slung over her shoulder.

"Can I give you a ride into town? You've got Miss Mystic duties at the winter festival, right?" Matt leans over towards the rolled down passenger window, hand on the steering wheel. April flashes him a smile.

"That'd be really great. I still have to change and get ready, and Mayor Lockwood is already on my case about 'setting the right example in the community' - and what she really means is, 'stop being late all the time for everything...' she rattles all this off as she pulls open the door and scrambles up into the truck. Matt just nods, puts the truck in gear, and slides off onto the road again.

April is full of chatter - about the festival, school, and her ongoing search for Rebekah. Hearing the Original's name come out of April's mouth causes Matt to flinch before he can stop himself. He remembers the time before, when he knew nothing, when he talked just like that, so casually about hidden monsters. April doesn't notice his discomfort, she rolls right on by with streams of words. He can tell she's nervous - he thinks it's probably about her Miss Mystic duties - so he does his best to fill the infrequent pauses with soothing affirmations.

It's only when he parks the car in the lot and turns to grab his bag that he looks at her and sees her eyes dart away from him too quickly, bottom lip pulled up by her teeth, obviously nervous about him as much as anything.

"I have to run, I have a million things to do, but thank you thank you thank you so much for the ride. You really made my day so much easier." She slides from the truck, bag in hand, and runs off. Matt makes no effort towards a last minute reply, just stares at the now empty seat.

He sits there so long, eyes down, that he's six minutes late for his shift, has to make up an excuse about festival traffic for the manager-on-duty.

Ten minutes later he realizes it was Caroline and Tyler he heard arguing outside as he rushed into the building - something about senior year and concrete, but he can't remember anything specific, only the urgency in their voices. It puzzles him through the early hours of his shift, until the pressure of the festival crowd slips it from his mind.

Friends and enemies drift in and out as time passes. Little knots of drama form and dissipate as they meet, talk, and go their separate ways. Matt can tell that something is going on (although, something is always going on), but no one ever approaches him with an update. From what he's seen so far it doesn't seem as tense as the regularly scheduled end of the world, but it definitely looks like more than an average Mystic Falls Saturday. There's an urgency to all the hushed conferences that keeps pulling his eyes over to them as he buses tables - but everything is urgent for his friends these days. It's getting hard to tell when he should really pay attention and when he'd be better off looking away.

Matt's best guess is that Stefan and Caroline and Tyler are working a plan. Caroline is in full Klaus-distraction-mode, spitting words at the hybrid in a low-cut dress. They've overused this crush of Klaus' and he wishes they'd stop it already. There are only two possible outcomes that he can see, each equally dangerous: Klaus wises up to the whole thing and murders Caroline out of spite, or Caroline finally gives in to him. Either way it ends badly. As he carries a tray past them he hears them talk, and sees Caroline careful to keep a small table in between herself and Klaus.

"Is that our thing?" Klaus murmurs at her.

She's quick to shut him down: "We don't have a thing."

Matt rolls his eyes and heads away from them, towards the kitchen. Not only is this overused tactic dangerous, it's also irritating to be around.

#####

By mid-afternoon his friends disappear from the crowd and Matt's tense about it. Tries to soothe himself: maybe the schemes have all worked out for once - maybe everyone's ok. But thoughts of disaster still creep in. There's no evidence either way, and no easy way to alleviate his fears.

And besides there's more than enough work to finish at the Grill to keep him busy. All the extra festival traffic also means tons of extra trash, so he pulls the garbage from around the restaurant earlier in the day than usual and starts to drag bags out into the alley behind the Grill.

From around the alley corner he hears Tyler talking.

"I don't owe you anything. I'm taking him out."

Matt resists the urge to peek around the corner, even just to satisfy his curiosity. He has no idea who's with Tyler. Could be a thousand year old hybrid or an out of control new vampire. He's full of vervain, but that won't stop something supernatural from ripping his head off.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."

Hearing Stefan's voice relaxes him a little, so he leans over and fishes through the doorway for more bags of trash.

Then he hears Caroline too.

"Stefan."

She says it simply, but there's anxiety in her voice. Matt drops the bag he holding and shifts himself to the corner of the alleyway. The edge of fear from Caroline drives him to look, all consideration for his own safety gone.

Stefan and Caroline are surrounded by hybrids and Tyler seems to be their leader.

There's a moment of strained silence before Tyler speaks again. "Sorry man, but you don't have a choice."

Matt can't help himself at this point - he throws himself around the corner and then elbows his way through the hybrids towards his friends.

"Look, I don't really know what this is about, but it sounds like someone's about to get hurt. There are people right up those steps, just trying to have a good time or working or whatever." He looks from Tyler to Caroline as he talks. "Think you guys could cool off a little?"

"It's alright," Tyler says, "we're leaving." He's talking to Matt, but has eyes only for Caroline. Stefan looks up at the sky with clear aggravation, but otherwise does nothing as the hybrids behind him move to join the ones at the top of the stairs.

Matt stands still, hands on hips, waits and watches Tyler and company move off. As soon as they're out of sight, Stefan nods to Caroline and follows them up the stairs.

"What's the problem with those guys?" Matt asks.

"It's way too complicated to get into all of it now," Caroline replies. "The short version is that Tyler's about to do something incredibly stupid."

"Incredibly stupid comes in a lot of flavors in this town. Could I get the slightly longer version?"

"They want to lock Klaus up to give the un-sired hybrids a chance to escape. The best they could come up with is to have a witch body-jump him into Tyler, and then Tyler will lock himself up in concrete!" There's a growing edge to her voice as she talks. She's starting to seem a little hysterical.

"But that's insane," Matt blurts out, "they can't think of anything better than that?"

Caroline pulls her phone from her purse and starts to type. "Tyler thinks the only way to really get Klaus out of the way is to lock him up in another body and since there's a shortage of willing victims around, he feels like he has to volunteer. He owes it to them, since he's there alpha now."

Matt runs damp hands through his hair. His heart is still racing from the confrontation.

"Tyler just needs a body right? Just a living body? Doesn't have to be a walking-talking one right?"

She nods.

"Don't you guys have Rebekah daggered in a coffin? I know those daggers don't work on Klaus in his normal body, but I bet if he's in Rebekah's it'll work on both of them."

Caroline's face lights up. "You're a genius. That is a way better idea than turning Tyler into a concrete block." She leans over and kisses Matt on the cheek. "Sometimes I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Yeah, well, I'd better get back inside. If Tyler doesn't like the idea, try to fight about it in a less populated area, ok? There's kids and stuff here."

He turns from her and heads back down the alley. The garbage bags are still waiting there for him, sitting outside the door, but not yet in the dumpster. He doesn't turn to watch her go.

#####

Matt likes his work at the Grill. It settles him, when so much else in his life is decidedly unsettling. Dishes move in a steady cycle around the room, from dishwasher to kitchen to table to bin to dishwasher, over and over again. Sometimes he drops a tray of food off for patrons and has time to ask how they are, just interact and smile with people he's known all his life. On occasion he fills in taking orders, covering lunch breaks when it's particularly busy. There's an honesty to it, even when customers are mad at him for misremembering complicated requests or being slow to notice they need something. He understands what to do, in any given situation here.

In the early evening April stops by to get something to eat. She's pretty in her white dress and tiara, and her face is lit up by all the compliments from the people around her. The earlier nervousness has evaporated - now she's joking around with Matt every time he passes by her table, still as awkward as she always is, but obviously loosened up from earlier. Matt tensed a little when he saw at the door, at first unsure how to act around her (or even think around her). He isn't sure exactly sure what he thinks about her, after the look she gave him in the truck this morning. But after a while he starts to relax too, as her obvious joy overwhelms his initial reluctance. He smiles at her genuinely - not to sooth her or to be polite, but just because they're friends now, whatever the future might hold.

"Hey, sit with me for a few minutes," she pauses, thinks, "you must get breaks right?"

"Not really in the middle of dinner, no."

"Aww, come'on, I'm Miss Mystic - must count for something in this town."

"I'm real sorry, but I can't. Maybe some other time, when I'm not working." It's obvious that she takes it the wrong way, as more than he meant to say. She blushes a bit and looks away.

"Right-yeah-definitely. That sounds good. I should probably get back outside anyway. Mrs. Lockwood will probably be looking for me soon."

April scoots her way out of the booth and heads back towards the restrooms. Matt looks after her for a second and then makes his way back through the crowd to the kitchen. He doesn't know how to feel about her and doesn't know how to consider her feelings. She's so young and excited and... He still sees her as a little kid, most of the time, someone Elena used to babysit. Not someone who deserves to get wrapped up in all this - but it's inevitable for anyone who spends too much time with any of them.

And, besides, there's Rebekah. A promise and a threat, waiting just beneath the surface of the world.

He can't imagine she'll take kindly to their plan to store her brother in her body. Hopefully she never hears it was his idea. Rebekah scorned is far more dangerous than Rebekah in love, and he can barely keep up with her as it is.

Stefan is in and out of the grill three times looking for Caroline, forehead creased with worry. On his third trip around the room, he asks Matt to pass along a message to her - danger, danger, time to act. Big Bad Saturday type stuff.

It's only been half an hour or so when Matt finally sees her across the sea of people.

"There you are. Stefan's been looking for you. Adrian's leading Klaus to the cellar." It's all out of his mouth at once; he wants to know how the plan, his plan, is working out and Caroline is his best bet for finding out what happens. He's anxious to have it all over and done with.

Caroline sidesteps his question. "How come the only time April Young isn't following you around like a lost puppy is when I'm lying dead with a broken neck?"

She looks down at her phone and types furiously. Ignores Matt, cuts him out of her vision. He's confused, and doesn't understand her anger at him, but he refuses to fall into the trap of escalating into an argument.

But then he thinks of April and his face squishes with alarm.

"April saw you?"

"Yeah, it's ok," she glances up at him and shakes her head,"I compelled her." Her eyes dive right back into the text on the phone.

"No, she's wearing Jeremy's vervain bracelet. She can't be compelled."

Caroline's face pulls up and she stares at him in panic. Her eyes dart to the right, before returning to Matt's face. It's obvious that she doesn't really see him at all anymore; she's looking straight through him, working through the reality of the situation.

She grabs his arm. "I have to go." Turns and fast walks away, phone clutched loosely in her hand. Matt is left stunned, and stares after her, mouth open.

He calls after Caroline, "Hey, I'll find her! I'll find her! It'll be ok!" and then watches the front door open and close.

Too bad for April... it's all over for her now, too. He thinks it almost in spite of himself, before he can catch it and contain it, hide it away.

#####

Matt's still thinking about April after his shift ends, as he makes his way across the square towards the truck. (It'll probably always be "the" truck in his head - never really "his".) There's little he can do to help Caroline and Tyler, but April is only human, like him, stumbling around in an increasingly confusing world. He has to find her and explain everything, especially the best ways to be safe.

The streets are empty and the festival traffic is all gone. Winter wonderland decorations are still scattered on the pavement. There's the constant sound of paper skittering in the light breeze. He has this weird feeling, like there's a hush in the air, as if the world is holding an indrawn breath and waiting.

He follows the curve of the path around the fountain and there he finds her crumpled over herself, knees wide on the ground, arms splayed out in the water. All thought of April is gone from his head.

And again he's stuck staring, third time today, but only for a moment this time. Death doesn't have the effect on him it once had, not anymore. And the shocks are wearing him thin. He sits on the lip of the pool and looks down at her, watches her float. It's hard to reconcile this image with the one in his head - a woman full of pride.

This is life now for Matt Donovan - this is the way things are.

Camping out at a friend's house to keep him sane. Taking cars from dangerous, love-sick vampires. Watching from the side lines as his friends fight for their lives, against evil, against each other. Working and going to school and trying to stay alive.

Finding his best friend's mother floating in a pool; a woman he's known all his life, dead in the water.

He should call someone, tell them what's happened - Tyler or the sheriff or Caroline. Someone who will know what to do.

But really this is all he can think: he should pack a bag and leave town, get as far away as possible, while he's still alive to do it.

Matt pulls his cell from his pocket, flips it open, and dials.


End file.
